So, like everyone else, I’ve been reading the excerpts from ‘Game Change‘ with a mixture of amusement, schadenfreude, and deep concern for the Republic. The political insiders it depicts are as far removed from any notion of ‘better government’ and ‘public service’ as Pluto (which I still hold to be a planet, dammit!!) is from the Sun.

Something nagged at me, and finally I realized that they reminded me of the boardroom scene in Putney Swope (one of my favorite movies from that era) where the avaricious board votes in Putney – because he’s black and they assume no one else will vote for him.

Yes, I get it that the entire text in the film is about race (it’s actually a very good film about race that unmasks a bunch of interesting altitudes by a bunch of different people); and I almost didn’t post this because some people will seize on that and make this post about Obama and race. It isn’t.

I’ll repeat again that it isn’t about race (although that’s the core of the film); it’s about the corruption and process by which Putney becomes chairman and how appallingly close that is to our politics today.
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